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The days and weeks just keep flying by, one after another after another. Some are ordinary, with multiple loads of laundry and grocery shopping and rocket math and finding lost articles of clothing. Others are more momentous, like when my firstborn went on a school science trip for three nights and cell phones were not allowed. Working six days a week and getting caught up with life makes me so exhausted I just don't have the energy to sit down at the computer.

But... my mom says I really need to update my blog.

And I do like to look back and remember the everydays that I used to document here, not just the holidays. So, I will try again.

Last weekend, Jessica ran in her first track meet. She competed in 4 events, the 100m relay, the 50m, junior javelin and the shuttle hurdle relay. Her school only started the track team about a month and a half ago, so they were really inexperienced and new to the sport. And the venue was *huge* and pretty intimidating. But the 5th grade girls did great in the long jump, and the 4th grade boys did very well with their relays, and Jessica said she had a great time. It was exhausting, but exhilarating and exciting. I screamed myself hoarse.

Such intensity! This week the coaches had a pizza party for the kids on the track team, to congratulate them all. I asked Jessie if she wanted to do something nice for them, and she immediately got busy.

She had a vision and grabbed a pen and paper, sketching out these little medals. So she designed and I cut and sewed. I think we make a great team, don't you?

Oh. My. Gosh. I'm so ready for a break. I have four glorious days off in a row and I can't wait to sleep in late, have someone else cook, and just enjoy my family.

I made a Thankful banner (pattern here) and strung it in the teacher's lounge, along with a basket full of miniature books I made with the Giving Thanks pdf from Wild Olive.

I made 80 of those suckers last night, with a little bit of help from the girls. I think I have about 20 left... my mom might like some, and we're keeping a few in my purse and the kids' backpacks to jot down things we're thankful for as we think of them. I'm betting those little books get filled up fast.

Happy Thanksgiving, thanks for reading about and commenting on my sporadic ramblings. Enjoy the holilday!

I'm not even going to attempt to catch up here. Let's just say summer is in full swing, and we have been enjoying every single jam-packed moment.

We've been hiking in the desert, swimming at pool parties, making strikes and spares at the bowling alley, and caring for our school garden since classes got out in May.

And when we just need to catch our breaths, in our quiet moments we're tackling embroidery. I signed up for the Wild Olive Summer Stitching Club, thinking that maybe it was something the girls and I could work on together this year, and it's been a huge hit.

The purple is Rebecca's and the aquamarine is Jessie's.

Love this picture of them. Don't know why they're squeezed together so tight, but it's cute!

I made a little gift for someone special at the school last month. Literally, little. It was just under 4" tall.

It's hand stitched, and the pattern is in the book Lovable Mini-Dolls. I picked it up ages ago, when I first started blogging and there was the whole Japanese pattern book obsession. I'm so glad I got this one, I can't remember how much I paid for it but all the patterns are really cute and pretty simple.

The weather here in Southern California is totally schizophrenic. Last week when I was driving to work, it was 36 degrees. We don't turn on the heater at home because of bloody noses and stuffiness, but it was about 55 every morning when we woke up, which is just too chilly! Rebecca asked me to make her a cowl, so I started after Christmas.

I finished it up yesterday morning, and the temperature was 80. Seriously. Today it's supposed to be 81. Absolutely insane. Rebecca chose the color and the yarn, and I modified the pattern from this one on Ravelry. My details are here.

It's really hard to take a picture of black knitting, but the texture is nice, and Rebecca likes it. The length is just perfect to double it up once for warmth.

So then, of course since it was 80ish, I finally started my other project, making handwarmers for me and my co-workers. I work in a book warehouse, and when I get there at 8 in the morning it is usually about 38 or 39 degrees. Regardless of the weather outside during the day, it rarely reaches even 50 by the time I leave in the afternoon. So I took the girls' toddler socks, the ones that lost their matches and that I knew I'd been saving for a reason, and turned them into handwarmers. I cut off the foot, turned the cuff inside out, sewed up the cut end, flipped them back right side out, filled them with feed corn I bought from a store I'd been driving past for years and years, and stitched the other end closed. 45 seconds in the microwave, and the little 3.5" square things actually retain heat for about half an hour.

I made little flannel covers for a few of them out of scraps leftover from making baby quilts so they can be taken off and washed, and the girls love them. I think we can put them in the freezer and use them as ice packs, too, which might be more appropriate for the next few days? But I'm going to make lots more for my coworkers, because we'll definitely need them to keep our fingers moving for at least another month or two. I'm trying to experiment with different ways to make them stay toasty for longer than just 30 minutes, like maybe packing more corn in muslin (less stretchy) bags? A little bit more work, but if it helps to retain the heat longer, it would be worth it.

I've got so many irons in the fire, sometimes it's hard to concentrate on one thing at a time.

1. Embellishing bracelets to pass out during the class party.

2. Putting together treats and decorations for the teachers' lounge.

3. Making costumes at the last minute, with input from the designer.

4. Attempting to knit up ghost necklaces, to add to a growingcollection, but realizing that was one thing that just wasn't going to get done. And letting it go.

Being able to focus is so important. And my little lady can certainly vouch for that... she got glasses last week! It was inevitable, and certainly no surprise to me. She took to them very well, and now Jessie laments the fact that she's the only one in the family without them. She can't wait until she needs a pair, too. Silly girl.

At the beginning of the school year, I finally decided to relinquish my beloved Box Tops to another volunteer, and took on the position of Hospitality Coordinator at my girls' school. I was in charge of the Welcome Back luncheon for the teachers and staff before school began, and will hostess the Teacher Appreciation luncheon during their special week in May. But on top of that, I acknowledge all the staff birthdays, holidays and generally try to keep up morale and show them how much they are loved and valued. Due to some ah... unbelievable occurrances... at the school last year, I have no budget.

So it's a good thing I'm a crafty lady with lots of stash!

I've been making all the birthday cards, a dozen so far, and last week I whipped up this coffee cup cozy (or tea cosy, since that's what the recipient drinks) for a beloved teacher's birthday. She loves Hello Kitty, and is one of the best teachers Rebecca has ever had. That's really saying a lot, since Rebecca has lucked out and had some amazing women come into her life.

It's been challenging, trying to come up with cute little gifts to include with a heartfelt card, something that is meaningful and fun, but won't break my household budget (since that wouldn't be fair to my own family). I think I've been creative and effective so far, and aside from feeling like I need an extra few days in a week, it's been fun.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to come up with some decorations for the teachers' lounge that don't scream Halloween, but are still fun and festive. We'll see what develops!

The little one turned seven yesterday, and we celebrated at Farrell's. I remember going there for my tenth birthday with my aunt and cousins, and there was a great big drum, sirens, and a whole lot of ice cream. They closed down for a while, and recently re-opened. There's always a line outside, regardless of the day of week and time of day. We had to wait for about 20 minutes to get a table, which worried me at first, but it was totally worth it. There was loud singing of unique birthday songs, amazing balloon sculptures fashioned into headwear, lively waiters and waitresses that certainly earned their tips, and huge smiles all around.

What's she holding up? One of her birthday gifts, a pair of pillowcases.

Great fabric, I bought it online last year (sorry, can't remember where) and have been waiting and waiting to make these cases. It was so gratifying that the moment she unwrapped them, she loved them. And she doesn't care one bit that mommy didn't pay attention to the direction of the fabric when she cut it...(think about it, the words should read horizontally when you look at the pillow lying on the bed, not vertically like in the picture above)!

One pillowcase was immediately used for its intended purpose the moment we got home last night, and the other was a shawl/cape/sleeping bag and is currently housing her stuffed cat and being dragged around the house. Totally warms my heart.

Now that Rebecca's in 4th grade, she gets to play an instrument - the recorder. Actually, the one she has used to be my sister's and mine, I think. Rebecca loves that it was handed down and requested a holder for it, so I finally got around to making one this afternoon.

Because it's so darn easy to work with and provides a lot of padding (and because my stash is over a foot high), I chose to work with wool blend felt. I don't think this is going to get washed very often, and hopefully it will stand up to a bit of abuse.

I cut my initial felt much wider than I knew it needed to be, using the recorder itself to measure for length. I added some extra room at the top, about an inch, doubled the whole thing, and then left enough for a flap. I cut out one big long piece, then used the machine to sew up one side of the pocket (stopping where the flap begins). Again using the recorder to make sure it would fit, I measured over three inches and sewed up the other side. I used Fiskars' scallop fabric shears to trim all the edges as a finishing touch. I bought my shears years ago on clearance at Michael's, and now it looks like they don't make them any more... I'd better treat them even more preciously than I already do!

Two buttons and a length of twisted yarn makes an easy closure, and then I printed out a nice inital "R" I found with Google image search, cut it out of felt, and hand-stitched it towards the bottom. In hindsight, it would have been *much* easier to sew the inital and buttons on before stitching up the sides, but - whatever. That would have required me to think about it and I just kind of did this one by the seat of my pants. It worked anyway.

It really didn't take very long at all. And there is a *lot* of backstitching at the top of the pocket for reinforcement.

I made these little lovelies (for Jessica to pass out to all her classmates - the candy corn were for Rebecca's class) from Paper-and-String'sfree pattern. Instead of using the brads for eyes and cheeks, I just used fabric paint that I've had for... forever. They weren't all dried out and did the trick nicely. Seriously, I've had the paint for at least 6 years or more. I don't remember buying any since Jessie was born, that's for sure.

I am the room parent for Jessica's first grade class, and for the Halloween party (oops, I mean Fall Festival) last Friday, we also decorated cookies (bought from the local grocery store - no homemade goodies in our school district) which coincidentally happened to be in the shape of ghosts, pumpkins and bats! And then the special Fright Bites tortilla chips I served were in the shape of, yep, you guessed it, bats, pumpkins and ghosts. So funny. And totally unplanned, I swear.

Everything was a huge hit, although the yarn ball thing was funny because the kids just did *not* get the fact that they had to hold on to the yarn with one hand, while rolling the ball with the other. They would just toss or roll the ball, which kind of defeats the purpose of the whole unraveling thing, you know? Anyway, they got it eventually, sort of. Maybe I should have used that one a year or two down the road...